Fast recovery, fast hair growth, and porcelain-like skin under the scorching sun of the desert?
No normal person would recover this quickly, and no normal person would retain their porcelain white skin after spending so much time in the desert's sun and sand. Even Mila, who has a darker complexion, tanned even more after staying in the desert.
Suddenly, Mila feels iffy about Luther's identity. She became more anxious when Luther opened his eyes and revealed his diamond-like hypnotizing eyes.
"Y-you. You should have told me you are not human!" Mila shouted angrily.
She is frustrated with herself for not checking more thoroughly.
Why didn't she think that no normal being would survive being buried under the sand for who knows how long?
Why didn't she suspect that meeting a stranger in the middle of the desert wasn't normal either?
Mila's imagination and anxiety strike again as she thinks that the author is plotting new ways to kill her since it fails to kill Mila through depression.
"I am sorry! I thought you would notice that I am not! But madam! Don't be wary! I was born and raised by humans! I don't even know where my other races are! I didn't have any sort of involvement with them!" Luther exclaimed as he shut his eyes. He thought Mila hated non-human races. That is why he worked hard to explain and claim that he was living like a human, as he had been living with humans ever since.
Luther is in a kneeling position and trembling in fear of being kicked out by Mila.
"What do you mean by that?" Mila tilted her head as she didn't get what Luther had confessed. She was grumbling internally and didn't notice that it made Luther frightened. Mila was shocked that Luther didn't tell her that he wasn't human and was scared that he would become an accessory to her death.
"Didn't I ask you if you have some sort of secret?" Mila reminded Luther of all the questions she asked before she decided to help him. Mila thought she was thorough at that time, but still missed another thing.
"B-but I am really not a prince. I don't have wealth either, nor a secret birth."
"But isn't your background too complicated for an extra?" Mila shouted as she shakes Luther's shoulder.
Is there something about the novel's plot that she forgot?
Does Luther have an important role?
Mila keeps pondering internally because she expects the author won't forget such a character if the author made an effort to write such a complicated back story.
"I am not. My human parents are both dead. For a living, I joined a mercenary group. I have never seen anyone of the same race as me. I am sorry, but madam, perhaps do you despise our race?"
Mila massaged her temples from thinking so much early in the morning. She then looked at Luther from head to toe and asked if she was only being paranoid.
Luther is not even mentioned in the novel.
"No. I'm sorry for acting this way. I just hate to get involved with troublemakers. I don't care if you are human or not. As long as you won't get me killed." Mila honestly shared as she stood up and dusted off the sand that stuck to her skin.
"I won't, madam! You are my savior! I'd rather die than kill you!" Luther also stood up and looked up at Mila as if she were a super hero.
"What's wrong with you?" Mila flicked Luther's forehead for exaggerating his words again. "Then what race are you?"
"What? You don't recognize what race I belong to?" Luther looked surprised and couldn't believe that Mila didn't know about their race. "Then what are you angry about with me? Madam?"
"I am angry because you hid that you're not human!" Mila shakes Luther's shoulder again as Luther keeps dragging at revealing his identity. "Tell me what you are!"
"I am a siren! Madam! Siren!" Mila stopped shaking Luther and took a few steps back. She then looked at Luther from head to toe while touching her chin.
"You don't fucking look like a fish!" Mila exclaimed as she pointed her finger toward Luther.
Mila's knowledge of sirens is that they are aquatic creatures with the heads and upper bodies of humans and the tails of fish. Mila's original world has siren folklore, but she can't recall whether a siren was involved in the novel's setting. As far as she could remember, the novel mentioned non-human races but never got them involved in the plot. The novel was only about power struggles and conquering hardship through romance and love.
Mila wonders how the genre is somewhat changing. Is it her fault?
"Why do I have to be a fish madam?"
Two pairs of eyes blinked in unison.
Luther and Mila felt like they misunderstood each other.
"Aren't sirens aquatic creatures?" Mila asked first, after calming down.
"No, madam, we are sky creatures, but I heard some sirens live on land, on the mountains or on the coast. I don't particularly know because I haven't seen one before." Luther explained, which made Mila even more confused.
"Then why didn't you look for them instead of living with humans?"
"I don't have wings, madam."
"You can't live with them because you can't fly?"
"Yes, madam. I can't keep up with them."
Mila wanted to know more, but at the same time, she held herself from asking for more about Luther's personal issues. They say ignorance is bliss. And there's some story that she should leave them as they are or else she will get into more trouble.
"Okay, whatever. If you're better now, then leave me alone." Mila shoos Luther away for her to live alone as she originally planned, but Luther continued to follow her even if he didn't respond when Mila was shooing Luther away.
"What the hell are you doing?" Mila asked Luther, who gave her a bright smile after she turned her way to Luther.
"Don't mind me, madam." Luther respectfully replied. He actually kept on following Mila to find an opportunity to pay back what Mila did to save him.
Mila furrowed her brows and decided to run fast to lure Luther out of the desert. "I'll drop him off in some town and mislead him there." She planned it because she no longer wanted to deal with Luther.
Luther's health was getting better and better even as they kept on running day and night. Soon, after three days of running, Mila and Luther reached a forest and had their first rest there.
"You really are not human!" Mila commented, while catching her breath. She's sweating so much, and she is now extremely hungry.
After taking Mila's special potion, Luther's recovery speeds up. His hair is now medium-length. He is no longer as skinny as before and can now keep up with Mila's normal speed.
Mila had only intended to send Luther out of the desert, but now that she was hungry and exhausted, she realized she needed to gather food for herself as well.
Mila looked around the forest to find something to eat, but the moment she tried to taste one of the fruits she picked from a tree she couldn't recognize, Luther hurriedly took the fruit away from her.
"Madam! This is poisonous!"
"What?" Mila's jaw dropped as she could not believe that she was close to poisoning herself.
"There is a town near this forest, madam. We can buy food there."
"You know this place?"
"I am a mercenary, madam." Luther proudly replied. Luther guided Mila to the town, but he didn't enter with Mila because the way he looked would surely not let him into the town.
"I'll be waiting for you here, madam." Luther said as he headed behind the bushes.
"No. Don't wait for me. Go on your way. bye." Mila didn't give Luther a chance to respond, and she walked away from him. Mila entered the town without an identification card. She just bribed the guards with her gold.
"Have fun in our town, madam!" The guards are pleased to receive such money and happily let Mila go, but there is always one righteous member of the group, as a young guard suddenly spouted his opposition.
"What if she's one of the dangerous people in the neighboring country? I heard the people there are all savage and violent! What will happen if our town's people get into danger? and the way she looks is too suspicious!" The young guard pointed at her short skirt, revealing the weapons wrapped around her thighs and legs, then pointed at her eye patch that sent off an intimidating aura. But the other guards just scoffed at the young guard's statement.
"You may go, madam. Ignore him. He is so into reading the news about the drama about the neighboring country's enthroning problem."
"Haha! That kid had a nightmare after reading stories about Esclamado."
"Isn't Escalamado too far from here? How did the news about them reach here?" Mila was surprised that she could hear about Esclamado here. She thought she had gone too far.
"Dragon blood is pretty unique. That is why everyone is getting interested in it. Then journalists use it to sell more of their papers." The old guard explained, while still laughing at the young guard. "And the story of Esclamado continues to stand, even if there is only one child managing it alone, making everyone thrilled by the story."
Mila smiled and thought inwardly, "Oh? The novel's original plot is doing well." She was delighted that she hadn't entirely ruined the plot, then she wondered if it was the right timing for the original plot to unfold.
"Sir guard? The Esclaamdo's child doesn't have a guardian?" She asked because she knew Robert was still alive.
"Yes, I heard both the duchess and the duke died. The child doesn't have any family members anymore. I can't help but feel bad for him."
"Yes, that's too tragic." The guards kept making their own side comments, but Mila could not focus on their conversation as her heart thumped from anxiety.
"What do you mean, sir? I heard he still has family who could be his guardian." Mila recalled that Christopher wouldn't be completely left alone after she ran away because there were still his grandparents and, of course, Robert.
"The full details of the story were not released yet, so we only know that it was a rumor." The guard was hesitating to share his information, but soon spoke it out after Mila handed another five gold coins.
"The other royal family attacked them and killed all the other family members except for the newly awakened dragon. They said he is so strong that he can destroy a country with one swing of his tail!"
Mila could see the exaggeration of the rumor, but the possibility of Robert getting killed is not something that should be happening now.
"Is this my fault?" Mila bit her lip as she moved away from the guards. Her brain is telling her not to care because they are just novel characters, but her heart tells her that she needs to take responsibility for the mess she made.
"Then should I die instead?" Mila grabbed her hair as she didn't like what was running through her mind.
"Why do you have to die after running away like that?"
A familiar voice suddenly spoke from her back. She slowly turned her head toward the person, and one eye almost popped out after seeing the person's face.
"R-Robert?"